‘Power-surplus’ Punjab to buy 4,000 MW in peak summer

IRONY State power corporation also takes nod from electricity regulatory commission to impose power cuts during the season

› THOUGH PUNJAB IS COMFORTABLE IN TERMS OF THE POWER GENERATION CAPACITY, OUR COAL MINE HAS STILL NOT BECOME OPERATIONAL.

KD CHAUDHRI, PSPCL chairman and MD

PATIALA: Notwithstanding the Parkash Singh Badal government’s claim of Punjab becoming “power surplus”, the state power corporation has floated tenders for buying 4,000 MW power in the peak summer, besides taking nod from the power regulator to impose power cuts.

Ironically, a day after the tenders were floated, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, while addressing the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) national executive in Chandigarh on Thursday, repeated his “power surplus” claim and even said that now the state government had constituted a committee to sell the power.

Not only the power purchase, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has also taken nod from the power regulator to impose power cuts if the demand exceeds or the monsoon fails.

PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director KD Chaudhri said the power corporation had floated tenders to ensure proper supply to the consumers. “Though Punjab is comfortable in terms of the power generation capacity, our coal mine has still not become operational. Thus, to avoid any crisis, the PSPCL has floated tenders to purchase power in summers when the demand hits the maximum,” he added.

The state buys electricity every summer. Last year, the power corporation had purchased 2,600 MW power.

The reason for the fresh tenders is that among the private thermal plants, only the one at Rajpura is operating at its full capacity, while only one unit of the Talwandi Sabo plant, inaugurated before the elections, is currently working. The fate of the GVK Goindwal Sahib plant still hangs in the balance as it has no coal linkage.

The short-term power purchase will commence from June 10, when the paddy sowing sea- son starts in Punjab.

The power corporation expects that the unrestricted demand will touch 12,000 MW, but at present there is availability of around 9,500 MW. The state has 3,700 MW generation from governmentowned hydro and thermal plants, while nearly 2,000 MW is coming from private thermal plants; the rest is the allocation from central power utilities.

As per the tender floated by the PSPCL, it will buy 1,400 MW power in June, 1,600 MW in July and 950 MW in August.

“A good monsoon is the only saviour, otherwise we have to enforce the power restrictions,” admitted a senior PSPCL official.

The worrisome factor is the coal crisis looming large on the PSPCL. Though the cancelled coal mine has been reallocated to the power corporation, it is still not operational. Thus, the PSPCL may fall short in the coal supplies which will curtail its power generation capacity.

It was during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal had first tom-tommed its “power-surplus achievement”, saying Punjab had enough spare energy to sell.